Our Ike Experience

Boy was I fooled thinking I'd be able to blog through the storm. Yes we had power via the generator but no internet! Duhhh! Some people think I was a blonde in a previous life. I will start where I left off...

Friday evening---our hurricane guests started arriving around 6pm...bringing with them beds, extra tv, batteries, water, snacks, and moral support. We started having intermitant power surges around 7pm. I would count to 15 or 18 and the power would come back on so we continued on with our game of cards and the kids played "Rock you like a hurricane" on guitar hero. The winds and rains started around 8pm. By 11:15pm when the power went out and I had counted to 25 I knew this was the beginning of the loss of power for an unknown amount of time. However, we did have Greg's Iphone for entertainment! He pulled up some old emails that his friend Mark Massey sent...you know the ones that get forwarded to you that someone forwarded to him that someone forwarded to him, and so on. Some of them had us all in stitches. By about midnight the kids and my mom and grandpa had gone to bed. Just in the knick of time because the conditions outside worsened. I remember at one point during what we thought was the worst of it Dawn asked the question something like "who's bright idea was it to hunker down through this storm?" The husbands looked at the wives as Dawn and I pointed at each other...and then we laughed and the guys said "just we thought!"

We were watching the local news on the battery operated black and white tv and about 1:30ish the eye was directly over Galveston and all was calm there and would be for the next 1 1/2-2 hours...so we had something to look forward to-NOT! Galveston is only about 28 miles from us so the eye would theoretically reach Friendswood in about 2 hours. So we waited...and waited...it was about 3am and still blowing like crazy. Sustained winds reached about 85mph with gusts up to about 105. We sat and waited for the windows to shatter so that we could patch them ...I just knew we would regret not boarding up. I had been up for almost 24 hours and couldn't take it anymore so I went in the bedroom and crashed out. I woke up a few hours later with the rains and wind still around 50mph and learned that at the last minute Ike jogged to the east...this was good and bad. Good because it forced the storm surge to the east side of Galveston Bay instead of the west side where the community is that my school is at along with all the parents and students and many of the staff members live...Bad because that meant we in Friendswood never had the benefit of the 2 hour calm of the eye...we got the west side of the eye wall continuosly until the storm finally passed around 11am...Good because the west side is the "clean" side. The amazing thing...the kite in the tree in our front yard has been stuck there for about 3 or 4 years...and it's still there!

On the menu tonight: grilled chicken breasts, sausage, mac and cheese

Saturday---We are so blessed! Not lucky...BLESSED. We lost alot of fence and a lot of shingles off the roof. No problem...until Sunday morning when it rained! The roof started leaking over the entry way. Thank goodness it only rained for 3-4 hours. It also moved our air conditioner unit. It didn't move it totally off it's pad, but it did shift it several inches.

We started our new life living with a generator...trying to save as much food from the others refridgerators and freezers and cooking it as fast as we could...which was faster than we could eat it! But we gave it a good shot!

Chad was the official "toast master"

We ventured out Saturday around noon to check on mom's, grandpa's, aunt Jan's, and Dawn and Jerry's places. It took a while since alot of the streets were blocked by downed trees and power lines. But in the end the damage to their homes was minimal as well...gutters and fences and a few shingles. And once again we realized how BLESSED we were...as was the majority of our area. Of all the trees that we saw down I would bet 90% fell away from homes and cars...that's why we couldn't get around the streets very easily. It was truely an amazing sight every time we turned around.

After lunch we checked out some other areas of town to see the devistation. Unbelievable as you probably agree after seeing some of the media coverage. By the way, we found that ice machine in the parking lot that Dawn swore she saw on Nasa Rd 1...it was really in League City.
We never lost water which was wonderful and we have a gas stove, oven and hot water heater! YEAH! That helped a ton when it came to cooking and HOT showers! Saturday's temperatures were hot and humid making things very uncomfortable. We finally had to put sheets over the leather couches so we wouldn't stick to them. Our friends decided to go back to their house that night to sleep in their own beds instead of on our couches...but they still did not have power. I think the important part was that we were all together during the storm.

Greg and I decided it would be more comfortable to sleep under the stars on the trampoline...and we were right.

On the menu tonight: ribs and sausage

Sunday---still no power at the Pemberton house. We thought Dawn and Jerry and the kids would be back over for breakfast...sure enough Dawn and Logan and Bryson pulled up about 11am honking their horn and waving fresh hot donuts out the window shouting "we've got the power!" Their power had been restored. They live right behind Walmart and Sam's Club...what do you expect! The celebration was a little premature since after about 2 hrs they lost power again...no we weren't laughing at them, we were laughing with them.

The only one that sustained bodily injury through the whole thing was Chad. He went outside and a stray dog jumped on him and he didn't have a shirt on. We doctored him up and convinced him he would live.

For some reason our land line went out and the cell service of course was hit and miss so I went to my mom's to place the dreaded call to the insurance company and get that process started (which is sure to be long and complicated).

On the menu tonight...brisket

By 9pm the power was restored again and it stayed on this time so we went and visited with them at their house before returning to our trampoline to sleep yet another night without power!

Monday---Waking up we found at some point Chad decided to join us on the trampoline.

Knowing the community in which I work and Chad has several friends and classmates was hit very hard, we wanted to do something to show them we were thinking of them and their stuggles ahead. Dylan also had friends in the area since he attended school there last year. We made sack lunches to deliver in the Clear Lake Forest neighborhood behind our school. We didn't know if anyone would want them since we didn't get to the area until around 1:30 but that didn't matter. It didn't matter if we saw anyone we knew or not. I loved this lady's shirt...if you can't read it it says "my kids think I have money coming out my (you fill in the blank)... and then it has a $100 bill between the cheeks! I couldn't stop laughing even though it is a little graphice. Back to business...I didn't know who lived in what house but I knew the families in that neighborhood that I have come to know and love from working at the school for now my third year. What a great experience we had. We sat in the back of the truck as Greg drove up and down the streets so we could offer what we had. We only ran in to three families that I knew but fed many others. We wanted to go to some other neighborhoods but ran out of food and couldn't get in to Nassau Bay unless we lived there.

While we were passing out food, Ty helped grandpa clean up the branches out of his yard. Grandpa said he worked his tushi off. I am so proud of our kids.

I know there will be many more opportunities to offer service in the future.

On the menu tonight: steak and shrimp

(Chad joined us all night on the trampoline Monday night!)

Tuesday---Greg headed back to work at 6am this morning. He works at Hobby for Continental Airlines. They didn't have power in the hangers but they were able to clean up twisted meta and debris. Greg was in charge of creating a white board for employees that had damage to their homes to list their names and needs and others could sign up to help them or leave names and info of someone they know that might be able to provide a service for them. What a great idea, honey!

I was woken up at 8am by Ty pouncing on the trampoline yelling "we have power!" And from that moment on the washing machine started and it didn't stop until about 9pm. And the only scare was when I was putting the last load in and the power went out...before I counted to 3 it was back on...sigh.

After dinner tonight Ty and Greg climbed on the roof to put a blue tarp over where we are missing the most shingles. We are expecting rain this weekend and he is leaving Thursday night for his hunting trip and I didn't want to take the chance since we know the insurance company won't be getting out here anytime soon.

As I put the last load of clothes in the dryer and reflect on the whole Ike experience, I count my many blessings, and name them one by one:

*we are all safe and so are our friends and family

*the kids fell asleep before the worst of the storm

* the sun will come out tomorrow as it did after the storm

*at least Greg wasn't hunting during this hurricane like he was during Rita

*life was definately more bareable thanks to the investment of the generator and gas appliances

*cool fronts that came through on Saturday that provided wonderful weather for opening windows to air out the house and also perfect weather for sleeping under the stars on the trampoline

*we were prepared and didn't have to wait in lines for gas and food and ice

*the money we saved by having all the stores and resturants closed we can put towards our insurance deductible

*we know what to expect next time we decide to "hunker down"

Thank you to all of our friends and family that checked on us continuosly via texting offering us a place to stay and anything they could do to help. You are all loved and appreciated.

As for what we will do "next time", remember a few posts ago I referred to the "Rita factor"...next time, I'll make the decision to evacuate or "hunker down" based on the "Ike factor"!

Current Conditions

It's 7:30pm and mom, Dawn and I just got back from a drive. We went to my aunt's house to get the electric pump to blow up the air matresses because I put ours in a place I wouldn't forget (yeah, I forgot where I put it). Her house is already without power which means grandpa's house is probably without power. We decided while we were out to look around. While driving down Bay Area Blvd a traffic light cable snapped and if mom had to swerve to the right to avoid having the traffic light go through the windshield (glad I wasn't driving!)

We drove to Nassau Bay...Clear Lake Park is under water...

The Hilton Hotel parking lot is packed with news crews...

The Bal Harbor and Nassau Bay subdivisions are baracaded to keep everyone out but you could see the water in the streets.

The winds are pretty steady at 30 mph and gusts to 40-45mph.

Pre-Ike landfall activities and conditions

The replies to the email I sent out a few hours ago assures me who our real friends are because they have NO problem telling us how they really feel by calling us names! Names like BRAVE or CRAZY. I can assure you we are not BRAVE so that leaves CRAZY! Thanks to you all.

Dawn looking a little frazzeled...this was before the power surged twice and the winds started gusting!

We are gladly taking in overnight visitors. My mom, my grandpa, and our close friends Dawn and Jerry Davis, their daughter Marissa, and sons Logan and Bryson...oh yeah and Jezzie (the dog). They are bringing over matresses and an extra tv to hook their Wii up. The method to our madness is pooling our resources and supplies and with 5 realatively young kids, 2 tv's, a Wii and a PS2 should keep the arguing to a minimum. Of course for the older crowd we will be watching the weather as we play our favorite past time games such as hand and foot or a dice game.

Greg securing the grill...

Jerry and Grandpa waiting for something to happen...

Bloggin about IKE

I never imagined being a blogger...especially not one that blogs when a hurricane is predicted to hit us within the next 20 hours. But here it goes!

Wednesday, Sept 10th...started doing laundry about midnight so we had lots of clean clothes for when the power goes out. Went to bed at 2:45am...not because I had that much laundry but because of I don't know why! I'm not nervouse I just think it's anticipation anxiety or something.

Thursday, Sept 11th...5:15am (refer to Sept 10th entry to calculate how many hours of sleep I had) On his way out the door to work Greg thought it would be a good idea to wake me up and send me to the gas station to fill up the truck and to Walmart to get some more water. I guess he wanted to get my heart pumping early in the morning. Keep in mind with the price of diesel it has been a VERY long time since we have actually filled the truck. It has been used for the short runs to scouts and the store. Luckily Greg has been carpooling with my brother and friend to work at Hobby so I can take the car to work. I can't say I experienced sticker shock but I wasn't pleasantly surprised either. Oh well...I filled up and then headed over to a basically empty Walmart. I don't know why...we didn't need anything except a 6 volt battery for the flashlights. But I managed to wander around and find stuff that by the time I got the very short check out line I had spent $56. I think I just wanted a story to tell when others tell me about their 10 hour wait in line fighting over cans of tuna!

6:30am -I was back in my pj's and crawling into bed...right after I checked the latest updates on Ike's path.
7:00am-Mayor of Houston issues manditory evacuation for our zip code. The phone starts ringing, texts start coming in.
9:15am-debrief the boys on the things that need done
9:20am-Ty, Dylan, and I mow the back yard
9:55am-hit the drive thru at Sonic while drinks are still 99 cents
10:30am-arrive at grandpa's to start sorting boards to put on windows
1:30pm-boards 90% installed. Steve and Greg will finish grandpa's windows, start and finish aunt Jan's and mom's windows when they get off work in an hour.
2:00pm-shower to prepare to watch my 5 month old niece and 11 year old nephew
5:15pm-catch a 1 hour nap
8:00pm-friends Dawn and Jerry and their kids come over to watch the weather, play cards, and talk about "hunkerin' down" and post hurricane plans

10:30pm-Dawn and I go looking for an automatic ice maker that Dawn swears she has seen in a parking lot on Nasa Rd 1 somewhere to stock up on ice...never found it

Midnight-went to bed

Now that I have caught up...Stay tuned...

Where were you...

http://www.ilike.com/artist/Alan+Jackson/track/Where+Were+You+(When+The+World+Stopped+Turning)


Thank you to all my friends and family that have in the past or are currently serving in the military so that my family and I can live in this beautiful and free country.

God Bless the USA!

Here we go again...

Except we really aren't "going" anywhere! At least I'm not! I'll talk about Greg's plans later!

Tracking Hurricane Ike at www.stormpulse.com

So often when any post-Katrina/Rita storm appears to be heading for the Gulf, especially towards Galveston, when the media talks about possible evacuations they often refer to "The Rita Factor"...which is basically referring to people like me! After evacuating for Rita, all though the normally 6 hr drive only took 11, I figure unless it's a category 10+ I'm gonna "hunker down" with the generator we bought and never used during Rita! I'm not boarding up any windows, taking any pictures off the walls, cleaning out the bottom of closets or underneath the beds...and I'm definately not getting in a car or truck unless it's to drive around and be a "look a lu" at the creek levels and wind damage. Since school is cancelled for the next two days I am doing all the laundry so if we loose power we will all have clean clothes for a while.

My "Rita" story: Greg left for work on Saturday night with plans to leave Sunday morning (after he showered at work of course) and catch a flight to head out on his annual hunting trip (more like a glorified and expensive camping trip)in Mt. Shasta California with his cousin and friends, knowing there was a "distrubance" in the Gulf of Mexico. He said to me "what are you going to do if a storm hits?" My reply was "what are you going to do if there is an earthquake in California while you are hunting?" We both laughed it off and away he went to work. By Tuesday afternoon the schools closed for the rest of the week, I went home, removed pictures from the walls, etc., packed clothes for a few days, and grabbed our 72 hour kit so we would be ready to leave Wednesday morning. Well, that would have been fine except I was also helping pack up my grandpa, my mom, and my aunt who all decided Wednesday morning to put boards on their windows while I was taking a quick video of all the contents of all the houses for insurance purposes, packing there important stuff in the back of the truck, etc.

Since I couldn't get Greg on his cell phone while he was on the mountain, I contaced his mom to tell her what my plans were. We finally got on the road at 4pm Wednesday afternoon. After about 7 hours on the road I got a call from Greg. I think his words were "Some hunter on the mountain said Houston was evacuating. What are you gonna do?" So I explained what I had already done and where we were headed and told him to call me every day so I could keep him up to speed on our plans since he didn't have access to the weather.

Fast forward to Saturday morning after having already spent 2 1/2 days entertaining the boys in a strange town and in a hotel with the rest of my family (luckily we had 2 adjoing rooms) and watching the weather channel 24/7. During the night Friday the storm looked as if it was turning more north and east of us, the media speculating on how we may have "dodged a bullet this time" and might be able to start returning home late Sunday or Monday.

The phone rings and it's Greg asking for an update. Excited at the thought of getting out of the hotel and back home I start rambling off the weather update and plans on returning home, etc. and all I hear Greg say is "So aren't you gonna ask me if I got a deer?" If I could have jumped through the phone I think I would have but instead I calmly said I was a little preoccupied with other things and that wasn't the first thing on MY mind. (Yes he got a deer...his first one ever!)

The drive back home was only 7 hours. And by the time Greg got home from California all the pictures were back on the walls and if it weren't for the guy on the mountain telling him Houston was evacuating he would have never known what a crazy and stressfull week I had while he was gone! But that's ok! He got his first ever deer and shipped the meat home. It was his third year to go hunting and so I think we figured out that deer meat cost about $100 per pound! Only to be lost when we had a power surge and the freezer went out and we lost all the meat...which didn't bother me too much because I'm not a big deer meat eater...unless it's sausage!

SOOOO...know you know if you ask me what the plan is for IKE, I am staying! But I think it would be good for Greg to experience an evacuation with the boys, his mother in law, and my grandpa!!! What do you think?

Disclaimer: I am not bitter (anymore)LOL...it has been 3 years since that happened. I just like telling the story! Almost as much as I like to tell the story of how we met! My version is always the better version! Love ya, honey!